Using the Software Update Point in System Center Configuration Manager 2012

08/24/2012

One of the features present in SCCM 2007 which was continued and received interesting innovations is the Software Update Point, which has the function of bringing into the SCCM 2012 the capacity to manage, distribute, and generate reports and dashboards.

Initial Configuration

To make the configuration of the Software Update Point (SUP) in SCCM 2012 you need to install the feature Windows System Update Services (WSUS) on Windows Server 2008 R2, which can be performed by the Server Manager.

Note: it is not possible to use the upstream server in SCCM server configured as primary.

After that the next step is in the SCCM console 2012 include the SUP role and configure their options, as shown in the image below where we configure the proxy data for accessing data.

To configure products, types of update and criticality is necessary to access the menu for the Ribbon as shown in the image below, and select Software Update Point:

The following will open the SUP setup where we select the products, classifications, rules of inclusion (supersedence) and languages:

Approving and Distributing Updates

From the configuration it will be possible to check the updates available on the main screen.

On the dashboard of the SUP will be possible to view all updates with statistics of applicability, as well as indicative data update installation in the inventoried machines:

By clicking on the updates it is possible to define what will be downloaded (Download) or distribution (Deploy) directly to the Collections:

When choosing the option to deploy will be possible to make a bundle, since the process of distributing updates of SUP is based in SCCM software distribution, with the creation of a package and advertisement, but with a simple wizard that will show in the next topic.

Automating Updates

A difference in relation to WSUS is that SUP low not alone unless you create specific rules, much more complete than in WSUS that is based only on OS, product and criticality. In SCCM 2012 is possible to set any type of filter for updates, including specific words in the text of the description.

The first step is to create an Automatic Deployment Rules that consists of the collection and the distribution rule:

In the sequel should be indicated if you want to use the WOL (Wake Up On Lan) to connect to the machines in the predefined schedule and the level of detail that the user will see each update, as well as automatically approve EULAs (contracts), which obviously must be connected, unless you want the user to know the contract of responsibility to be used:

The next step is the most important, because it involves the creation of semantic filters, where we can set the criticality, OS, language, date and even demand in the descriptive text of the update to a particular product, for example, Excel:

In the sequel will be set the time zone, if the centralized server or client zone, when it will be installed and available. In the example below the update is made available so downloaded from the server and the installation can be made up to 7 days, which indicates the maximum time that the user can postpone before automatically installing:

As commented in the beginning, is used to package structure on the distribution of updates, so the next step is to indicate whether to use an existing package or a new one. In the case of automatic updates is good to use a new package to avoid confusion of content. Note that in the sequel will be set the Distribution Point, location of downloads and desired languages, taking into account that language in this case is not updates but the interface:

With these steps we have seen how to create a dynamic updates in SCCM 2012.